keo

Gold's Devilish Advocate

I agree with tb1975. I live in "euroland", so I look at gold in euro terms. The march 08 high was around 670, and recently gold touched almost 800 euro/oz. Gold made new highs in most currencies, except the usd (and pegs) and the yen... Imho, these two will crack sooner than later, unfortunately...

Sorry Gold Bugs, It's Time to Sell

I agree that gold looks high right now compared to other commodities...
So may be it will dip on the short to medium term. Nothing to worry about in my view... What I do worry about is counterparty risk when buying ETFs or ETNs for commodities (so good for you that you sold your "gold"), and about central bankers printing currencies Zimbabwe style. I don't see many good alternatives to physical gold.

12 Reasons to Short Gold

After reading #12, I question the author's IQ. To believe what the fed and the president say is not really smart (I am being polite).

12 Reasons to Short Gold

After reading #12, I question the author's IQ. To believe what the fed and the president say is not really smart (I am being polite).

Returning to a Gold Standard Is a Bad Idea

As Nathan Lewis points out in "Gold, the once in future money", a 100% backing bij gold is not necessary. In a gold standard, the amount of base money is not determined by the amount of gold hoarded by monetary authorities. Even redeemability with a government is not necessary. It is possible to maintain a gold standard, even without holding any gold. Monetary authorities can always buy gold or borrow gold on the open market. The crucial point is that central bank use gold properly to manage the value of the currencies. Gold standard was used quite succesfully in England for 2 centuries, while the BoE held very little gold.

Further, if several countries would adhere to a gold standard, we would immediately have a world currency. Any country could join unilaterally, without approval by some central body and restrictions.

I fail to see the disaster imagined by the author.

It's the End Of the World As We Know It and I Own Gold

Buy consumables. (The best inflation hedge in the times ahead !)
Then, buy bullion. Gold is compact, very, very, very easy to hide, unless you're a billionaire.
Then, if you have something left, buy miners.
If you don't put up any signs like "Food & Gold Here", you will be OK.
This is not the apocalypse.

AIG-Backed ETCs Trading on European Markets Again

Well, on Euronext, market makers were sill not giving off quotes on Monday 22snd. Trading is open, ok, but without liquididty this is meaningless. The problems are still NOT over.

Is the Commodities Bull Market Over?

strong dollar ? where ?

Is the Price of Gold Artificially Depressed?

Some quotes:

"Gold is money. That's it". J.P. Morgan

"Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the 'hidden' confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights." - Alan Greenspan

"Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world. Germany in 1944 could buy materials during the war only with gold. Fiat money in extremis is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted." -- Alan Greenspan 1999

"There can be no other criterion, no other standard than gold. Yes, gold which never changes, which can be shaped into lingots, bars, coins, which has no nationality and which is eternally and universally accepted as the unalterable fiduciary value par excellence." - Charles De Gaulle

"There are about three hundred economists in the world who are against gold, and they think that gold is a barbarous relic - and they might be right. Unfortunately, there are three billion inhabitants of the world who believe in gold." - Janos Fekete

I could go on and on....

Seven Reasons To Avoid Gold - And Why You Should Ignore Them

@douglas: all that took was a guy named Volcker who raised rates to 20%. Nou let's see Bernanke do that ;)

The Dow Priced in Ounces of Gold: Secular Bear Market Since '99

In the words of J.P. Morgan, "Gold is money. That's it."
But still, dow in terms of other commodities is interesting.

Everyone Wants the Commodity Bubble To Be Pricked

Russia would be *nowhere* without the run up in commodities in the last years (not just oil), it is rising from its ashes and flexing... Let commodities crash, and Russia would be broke. Latin America is absolutely booming thanks to commodities. Australia is making tonnes. High prices gives these countries power, look at Russia, Venezuala posturing like they do. Argentina, Malaysia, Venezuela are no longer interested in IMF membership. If you have expensive commodities, people are nice to you and will take you to dinner. These countries have nothing to gain from lower commodity prices. Now, if they would stop printing their fiat papers (and in some cases let the dollar peg go), they would have less inflation too.

Everyone Wants the Commodity Bubble To Be Pricked

Not everyone wants it pricked, just those countries that have to buy them from the producers ;)

How Can the Dollar Rally As Oil Soars?

The USD is far from hated - yet. Look at all the $ held by Asians and Arabs ! The $ still has a long way to go.

The Brightest Stars in the Commodities Boom, Part Two

Thanks Mark, enjoyed reading the piece. Some notes though:

- few (no?) commodities have done any good in the period 1980 - 2000, not only gold performed poorly...we could use that period to bash commodities in general.
- In 1971-1980 Pt went from $90 to 1000$, gold from $35 to 850$. Gold did much better.
- In the period 1999-2007, Pt did 318%, Au 190%, Pd 10%. We found a hedge worse than gold ;). But the PM run is not over yet, we'll see what the future has in store for us.